Recently the Newark, New Jersey Police Department decided it needed to do more, much more to build trust between the police and the community.

Here's a little background on police building trust in the community.

Last year, the Newark Police Department received an award from the New Jersey Attorney General for Outstanding Community Policing for its innovative approach in fostering relationships of collaboration and trust between police and the community.

How did the Newark Police foster trust between the police and community you ask?

Apparently the police decided that using the clergy to build trust between them and the community wasn't enough.

Because this year, they invented a new program designed to encourage citizens to use CCTV cameras to spy on their neighbors in real-time. (To find out more about police using CCTV's to spy on businesses and citizens click here & here.)

Nothing, says 'outstanding community policing' like encouraging the community to spy on your neighbors, right DHS?

For years, DHS has been encouraging citizens to become government spies, using phrases like 'If You See Something, Say Something' and even asking citizens to take a spy quiz as the picture below shows.

Police in New Jersey, have taken 'See Something, Say Something', to a whole new level. They are using CCTV cameras to create a city of stay-at-home spies!

Recently, the Newark Police Department unveiled it's new "Citizen Virtual Patrol" program, encouraging citizens to go to this link and become stay-at-home spies.